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Thursday, May 9, 2013

Erykah Badu Interviews Kendrick Lamar

How cool would it be to be interviewed for anything by Eryah Badu? Although many of us could never answer literally explain the answer to that question Kendrick Lamar now can thanks to Interview Magazine.

Interview mag tapped Erykah to phone interview the talented up and comer for their recent issue with what seemed like a free range of questions that ranged from living status to hottest MCs.

To get a feel for what Ms. Badu and Mr. Lamar chopped it up about check out some of the interview below and the entire interview HERE.

Singer, songwriter, and fellow raconteur Erykah Badu recently caught up with Lamar by phone at the airport in Denver. Badu was at home in Dallas, Texas, and Lamar, who has seemingly been in constant motion while touring the world over the past year, was enjoying a rare unscheduled breather, having just missed his flight.

BADU: You sound like the typical Gemini. But let me ask you this—I've been here for 42 summers, and I still don't get this: Despite everything that's gone on, I feel like there is still a hierarchy of humanity, and women are still treated very much like second-class citizens.LAMAR: Right.BADU: You know, I've created a lot of my videos and directed or co-directed all of them. I write my own lyrics and co-write the music and do the concepts and collaborate on the artwork for my albums. Anything that has to do with my work, my hands are in it—and I've created it all out of my blood, sweat, and emotions. But I see that men, in some circumstances, can have this power to shut all of my dreams down at any time. So let me ask you: What do you, as a man, envy about what it means to be a woman?LAMAR: There's just a certain knowledge instilled in a woman. There are these things that women have that men just can't grasp: the understanding of love; the understanding of being; having a certain type of care in your heart and knowing when to be compassionate; knowing how to be a confidante . . .BADU: That's a good perspective. Something I envy that men have is that ability to grow a goatee. I think that'd be really hot on me.LAMAR: A goatee! [laughs]BADU: A goatee with a hair wrap . . .LAMAR: So let me ask you a question: Would you rather have been a man or a woman?BADU: Because I have no memory of my past lives, I don't know what it feels like to be a man. I think I would like to experience it, though. I mean, I'm happy that I am who I am, but being a woman in her forties ain't no joke, man. I'm tellin' you . . . This is some other-ness shit. There's a hormone that gets released called "I don't give a fuck"—it is heavy. [laughs] But I would love to experience being a guy. Would you ever let a girl paint your toenails, just for fun?LAMAR: Paint my toenails for fun? I don't know—I'd have to be in that type of moment . . . But I don't think so. [laughs]